Toy



H. MULLER May 22,1934.

TOY

Filed Jan. 28, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet l [/1 [49/7 for:

May 22, 1934. H. MULLER 1,959,493

TOY

Filed Jan. 25, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 2 '"IIiIIi F May 22, 1934. l H, MULLER 1,959,493

' TOY Filed Jan. 26, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 3 .15 WWW/M 1 73a da iatenteel May 22, 1934 Heinrich Miiller, Nuremberg, Germany Application January as, 1933.8erla1 No. 653.638

-InG

ermany August 27, 1932 2 Claims. (01. 46-45) This invention relates to a toy which is movable on wheels and can either be drawn .or be driven by means of a wheel-work built into the mechanism. In contradistinction to known toys of a similar character the characteristic feature of the present improved toys consist in certain new and useful arrangements and combination.

of parts, as specified in the claims. The object of the invention is to produce certain movements,

1 especially such resembling or imitating the movements of the legs of an animal, may be a fourlegged animal, such as a dog or the like, these movements to be produced by the members constituting the mechanism, in such a manner that 1 the respective animal etc. appears to walk or run.

A variety of constructional forms of the new toy are possible. The first set thereof is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example in Figs.

1-5 of the accompanying drawings, on which Figure 1 is a view showing the interior of the animals body, seen from a side thereof. Figure 2 is a similar view, the left-hand running wheel being removed and the animals body being shown only in dotted lines. Figure 3 is a plan of the mechanism, without the animals body. Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section in the plane A-B of Fig. 3 and seen in the direction irom'the right to the left, as regards Fig. 3,. and Figure 5 is also a view similar to Fig. 1, but being chiefly a sideview of the toy and showing the legs, i. e. the fore legs, in a position counter to that of Fig. 1.

With this constructional form of the toy, and v 5 especially in Fig. 1. Figure 6 represents a curve indicating the way of motion of the (fore) legs of .the animal when being moved up and down by the mechanism while the animal is at the same time driven forward by the same.

A second set of the constructional forms is shown in Figs. 7-12, in which the mechanism is mounted upon a bottom plate upon which the hollow body of the animal is to be placed, and in which the members that constitute the hind legs of the animal are actuated by the intermediary of the running wheels, or the axle of the same, which in turn-is driven'by a wheel-work, as in the first set. Figure 7 is chiefly a vertical longitudinal section through the hollow body of the animal. Figure 8 is a side-view of the mechanism,

including the bottom plate upon which the wheelwork is mounted. Figure 9 is a separate view of the running wheel and the connecting rod for actuatingthe hind legs (not shown). Figure 10 55 is a separate view of the cog-wheels of the wheelwork, in side-view. Figure 11 is a plan 01. the complete driving mechanism. Figure 12 is a similar view, showing, however, a modification, in that separate operating members for the two hind legs are provided, instead of a common operating no member as in Fig. 11.

The Figures 13-17 show constructional forms in which a driving wheel-work is dispensed with, the toy being designed for being drawn and the -mechanism serving merely for moving the legs, as

the rotations of the running wheels being transmitted to the legs and transformed into to-andfro movements, as will be fully described hereinafter. Figure 13 is a side-view oi the toy, partly in section. Figure 14 is a plan of the mechanism. Figure 15 is a view similar to Fig. 13 and shows a further modification in which two driving mechanisms are provided, the one having a wheel-work and serving for driving the toy and actuatingthe hind legs, and the other serving for operating the fore legs merely by means of front runningwheels, also as more fully described in the further course of this specification.- Figure 16 is a plan of the mechanisms pertaining to Fig. 15, and Figure 1'7 shows a modification of theleft-hand portion of so Fig. 16, the modification lying in the cranked shaft which is in Fig. 1'7 so designed that the fore legs are lifted and lowered simultaneously instead of alternately. This modification can be used also in connection with the other constructional forms of the toy.

Referring to Figs. 1-5, the toy is provided with a spring -wheel-work 1 built into the driving mechanism and being adapted to be wound up in known manner by means of a square key that is to .be applied to the axle 2. The spring then turns a cog-wheel 3 from which the motion is transmitted to the cog-wheel 6 across the cogwhee1s4 and5. The wheel 6 is secured to an axle '7, t) the ends of which the running wheels 96 8 and 9 are firmly attached. To the axle 7 is 'afflxed also a cog-wheel 11 meshing with a cogwheel 13 aflixed to an axle 12. At the ends 01 this axle are cranks 14 and 15, from which extend rods 16 and 17 that extend through links 100 a running little dog.

Besides the fore legs, also the hind legs are moved by the mechanism. These legs are formed by the downwardly bent ends 20 and 21. of an inverted bow 20 that is turnable on a vertical pivt 23 extending downwardly from the frame of the wheel-work. The bow 20 can be moved to and fro on said pivot by means of a connecting I rod 24 extending forwardly to the crank 14, to

which it is jointed. The [connecting rod 24 is preferably designed as an oblong rectangular frame (Fig. 2) so that it does not contactwith the running axle 7 that passes through said frame which latter can now freely oscillate corresponding to the movements of the crank 14.

While the movements performed by the ends of the fore legslfi and 17 are such as indicated by the curve shown in Fig. 6, the hind legs perform more a waddling movement, only forwardly and rearwardly, which, in connection with the movements of the fore legs produces an effective appearance, although the means employed are relatively simple. The distribution of the weight of the several members is such that a certain small part of the weight is carried by the hind legs, and the movements of these latter are properly timed relatively to the movements of the fore legs so that the desired appearance is obtained, It is important in this respect that the movements of the legs is in a certain definite relation to the speed of the figure when being driven forward by the wheel-work. It has been found that the effect is best when each fore leg moves thrice upwardly and downwardly while the toy has been driven forward by as much as corresponds to double the length of the toy. Owing thereto, the number of revolutions of the running axle '1 is to be somewhat larger that the number of revolutions of the running axle 12 to which the cranks 14 and 15 are jointed and from which the movements of the legs 16 and 1'7 are derived.

According to the size of the figure and to the type of animal it represents it is, of course, possible to depart from the details for instance as regards the diameter of the running wheels or the ratio between the cog-wheels of the wheelwork by which the axles 7 and 12 are driven.

It is, as a matter of course, also possible to provide the mechanism with a checking device or member which is released when the toy is placed upon the ground, the wheel-work commencing only now to operate. Such checking devices or members are known and do not, therefore, fall into the scope of the present invention.

Referring now to Figs. 7-11, there is, relatively tothe first-described constructional form, the difference that the driving wheel work 1 is mounted upon a base plate 25 which forms a bottom for the hollow toy body, this latter being placed over and upon the mechanism. Instead of the guide links 18 and 19 of Figs. 2 and 3, apertures 18 ar '1 19 are provided in said bottom or base plate 25, the fore leg rods extending freely through these apertures. Furthermore, the hind legs 20 and 21 are actuated by a connecting rod 24 (Fig. 9) which is moved to and fro from the running wheel axle '7 by means.

of an eccentric, as shown in Fig. 9. There are in the bottom plate two parallel longitudinal slots (Fig. 11) through which the feet 20 and 21 extend downwardly. The feet form also in this case the downwardly bent ends of an inverted bow, the body portion of which is located above the said bottom plate.

It is, however, not indispensably requisite that from the frame of the mechanism.

Although it presents certain advantages to drive the toy by means of a spring wheel-work anyhow, that is not indispensably necessary, as it is as well possible to draw the toy by means of a cord or the like, as in Figs. 13 and 14. In this constructional form, 1 denotes theframe of -the driving mechanism, in which frame an axle 7"- is supported to which the running wheels 8 and 9? are attached. on the same axle is a cog-wheel meshing with a counter cog-wheel affixed to the crank shaft 12 also supported in said frame. To the cranks are attached the fore legs. 16 and 17 which are guided in slots 18 and 19 of the bottom plate 25. The hind legs 20 and 21 form also in this. case parts of an inverted how 22 which is oscillable on a pivot 23 and is oscillated by rod 24 either from a running wheel or from the axle of the same, preferably also with the aid of an eccentric, as in Fig. 9.

' The entire mechanism is, thus, actuated by the wheels being rolled along the ground, that is to say, by drawing the toy directly by means of a cord or the like, whereby the axle '7 will be turned and the fore legs will be operated by the intermediary of the set of wheels, whereas the hind legs "will be actuated from the running wheels or their axle either as in Figs. 1-5' or in Figs. 6-11 or in Fig. 12. In every case the mechanism is turned by the friction arising between the running wheels and the ground when the toy is being drawn.

' It is, finally, also possible to design the device in this way that the fore legs are operated by sep arate running wheels rotated by friction, as in the preceding case, whereas moving the toy forward is effected by a wheel-work provided for this, purpose, as well as for operating the hind wheels.

wheels 8* and 9 are secured to the driving shaft 7; said wheels extend downwardly through slots of said bottom plate. Also the front runnin wheels extend downwardly through slots of the bottom plate. The rotary motion is transmitted from the wheel-work to the axle '7 by a set of cogwheels, and is transmitted from the running wheels to the fore legs also by cog-wheels, as will now be clear without further details. The arrangement of the fore legs is the same as in Fig. 14, and the arrangement of the hind legs is also the same as in said figure.

Instead of arranging the cranks for the fore legs at 180 relatively to one another, as in Figs. 11, 12, 14 and 16, in which case said legs are lifted and lowered alternately, it is also possible to have the two cranks, or crooked portions of the driving solely by way of example. Various departures thereof are possible without departing from the inventive idea. Thus, for instance, as regards the constructional form shown in Figs. 15 and 16, the fore legs may be actuated by the means employed in said constructional form for the hind legs, and these latter legs may be operated by the means used in the said constructional form for the fore legs.

I claim:

1. In a toy comprising a hollow body representing the body of a 'quadruped, legs extending forth from said body, cranks to which said feet are hinged, and means for rotating said cranks, in combination with the said feet, a stationary member having slots through which the feet extend vertical direction while they are reciprocated in a horizontal direction by the said cranks so as to produce the appearance of the quadruped running on its feet when the toy is in operation.

2. In a toy comprising a hollow body representing the body of a quadruped, wheels supporting said body, means for turning said wheels, legs extending forth from said body, cranks to which said feet are hinged, and motion-transmitting means between the meansfor rotating said wheels and said, cranks, a stationary member having slots through which the feet extend and which give them a reciprocating motion in a vertical direction while they are reciprocated in a horizontal direction by the said cranks so as to produce the appearance of the quadruped running on its feet when the toy is in operation.

HEINRICH MiiLLER. 

